I wasn’t sure I was going to actually do this 5K. I was sick all week and after walking for just 30 minutes, 2 days before the race, I was lightheaded. I started feeling better on the day before the race and I actually left the house for the first time in 5 days.
According to my training schedule, I was supposed to run 5 miles. I planned to see how I was feeling after the 5K then tack on 2 more miles.
It was chilly that morning and I was worried about how my chest would feel with all that cold air getting into my lungs, so I bundled up and ended up looking like a bandit!
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| I wore my friend, Alyson's shirt supporting Leukemia & Lymphoma because the race name was 5K4Life. What better way to celebrate a life?? |
I hadn’t seen some of my 5K running buddies since the triathlon, so I was excited to see everyone again. We have a lot of 5Ks planned for the upcoming months, so I’ll get to see more of them!! Yay!
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| Kathy, Me, Elisa, Xan, Karen, Beth, Crista |
So technically, according to the official results, I PRed by a little over a minute and a half. But, they pulled their volunteers holding signs telling the runners which way to go before everyone finished. So, instead of turning left onto Galileo Galilei Way and looping back around to where we started (which was the correct course) I passed that turn and continued to the next road where I saw the finish. Except when I went into the finish, I was going in backwards.
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| Green is where I should have gone. Red is where I did go. |
So instead of doing 3.1 miles, I ended up doing just 3. Technically not a 5K, and not a PR anymore. But I calculated it and at my pace, if I had gone the right way, I'd have finished in 49:01, which is a 2 second PR. I'd have loved that. Especially since this was a medal race and I told myself in every race that there are medals, I want to PR. Because it's fun. By taking away the turn markers in the race, this 5K took that away from me, and it's frustrating.
But I got a medal, hung out with some great friends, got some great pictures and a pretty cool bag of goodies.
They had tons of food spread out at the end of the race. There were sandwiches longer then I am. Many of them. They had a clam chowder truck, coconut water, 5 hour energy and I’m sure more good stuff that I didn’t see.
I don’t know if it was the course, the fact that I wore my compression socks during a race, I wore my new running shoes outside for the first time, or I had my buddy Kathy as a pacer for me, but this was a great race for me. I was faster, I felt good, my legs never really hurt, the breathing was great and I ran for longer periods that I have been doing lately. I was really happy with my performance, which is why it was so upsetting to see that I had run the end of the course wrong. If it had been my fault, I would have sucked it up and dealt with it, but it wasn’t.
The race stated that runners (and walkers) needed to complete the course in one hour. Given that logic, they should have planned for volunteers to be out on the course for that entire time, or until the last racer (runner OR walker) completed the course so people didn’t stray from the course. And for the record, I wasn’t the only one. I saw another person take the wrong route too, and some people I was with earlier were doubtful of which way to go at one point. A lady had a map of the course with her, but right after she checked the map and headed us all in the right direction, I pulled ahead of them and that’s when I went the wrong way.
They stated there would be traffic control provided by the City Police. There sure was, but he made a group of us, STOP AND WAIT FOR TRAFFIC TO PASS. I don’t know about you, but that’s backwards. When I stated, “Hey, we’re in a race here, can we cross?” The cop said, “There was a gap in the race, I had to let traffic go”. Yeah, I get that, but the gap between the tail end of the faster runners and us was maybe about a minute. So he let traffic go by for that minute. I can understand that...it makes sense. But then when we come up, please stop traffic and let US go by. Just because I’m slow, doesn’t mean I’m not still a part of the race.
They stated there would be mile markers. There weren’t any.
They stated there would be water stations. Plural. There was one. Thankfully, it was still manned and had water when we passed! And those volunteers at the water station were awesome. Thanks guys!
Although there were many great things about the race, and the reason we were racing was pretty great too, there were also just as many disappointments. I know I’m not a fast runner. I’m not even a fast jogger. My “running” pace is just about as fast as some people’s walking pace. But I paid for this race too, just like the rest of the people and I deserve to be treated the same as the rest of the racers.
My friends were pretty awesome though. Like I’ve said before, I love 5Ks for the social aspect and the sponsors, Prize4Life, did a great job with the social part of the event. And of course surrounding myself with some pretty great people didn’t hurt either.
Oh yeah, and there were medals!
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WINNING! |
(And if I had run the right course, I'd have finished in 49:01 - a 2 second PR. It would have happened)
I didn’t end up adding 2 miles because I was annoyed after the race, and I wanted to hang out with my friends. I decided to hop on the treadmill when I got home, but by the time I got home, the ball of my foot was hurting. It felt like I had a bruise, but I didn’t see anything. So 3 miles was all she wrote.
